June 20/00 11:27 am - BC Cup, Shep Report

Posted by Editor on 06/20/00

BC Cup(courtesy Allan Prazsky, Cycling BC)

BC Cup Road Racing Series

With the rather inauspicious (weather wise) debut of the 2000 BC Cup Road Racing Series behind us, we move onto the second event of the series, the Gary Lund Classic, an event that many racers regard as one of the most epic races on the calendar.

One of the only out and back courses on the BC calendar, the Gary Lund Classic follows the west coast of Vancouver Island, from the small coastal town of Sooke to the fishing village of Port Renfrew and back. A total of some 140km of wickedly twisting, undulating black top, with nary a flat section in the whole race.

Attacks came early, with Trek-Volkswagen's Tony Zarsadias slowly rolling off the front only to be joined by Ontario's JetFuel rider Jason Crookham. With the field seemingly content to let these two riders motor off into the distance, the two-up break made over 10 minutes on the pack.

Several anxious moments were shared as attacks were made on many of the steep hills going into Port Renfrew, only to be neutralized by the main pack, unwilling to let anyone else off the front.

Speeds crept close to 90km/h as riders followed single file down the long winding descent into Port Renfrew, only to be greeted by a sharp 180 degree turn and a steep hill climb back out of Port Renfrew.

Determined to reel in the two riders, now well up the road, a small break group of 6 attacked on the climb out of Port Renfrew, leaving the pack. Cresting the hill, the chasing peloton, shattered after the climb, had their game faces on. Slowly cranking up the pace, the main pack eventually reeled in the chase group. Immediately, Trek-Volkswagen strongman Svein Tuft attacked and solo'd off the front and out of site.

As the pack closed in on the finish, speeds increased exponentially. Clearly spent from his solo effort, Svein Tuft was sucked back into the chase group, and off in the distance, the two riders that broke away more than 100km ago, appeared. The sight of the two riders only stoked the speed of the chase pack, now in full attack mode, with riders in their drops and pulling through in fine pace-line fashion. Riders began to drop from the speeding peloton as they climbed each hill.

Cresting a hill perhaps 30 kilometers form the finish, the daring duo (Tony Zarsadias and Jason Crookham) were attacked and quickly dispatched to the back of the pack. Now it was anyone's race, attacks were hard and frequent.

A small break group of about 20 riders formed, and rolled away form the peloton, sprinting to the finish in what was perhaps Gary Lund's closest finish to date. A fine Victory went to Three Point Motor's Luca Segato and a hearty congratulations to Jason and Tony for being out by themselves for more than 100km!

A particularly strong women's field showed up at the start of the Gary Lund Classic this year. With the likes of Leslie Tomlinson, Melanie McQuad, Amber and Eron Chorney, Gina Grain and Charlene Waldner, it would have been easy to mistake the starting roster for a world class cross-country race.

Having to traverse the same heinous course as the Senior Men, the women's field quickly strung out, with attacks happening on seemingly every incline. A group of 6 riders, led by Trek-Volkswagen hardhitter, Sara Neil and PoloSport's Leslie Tomlinson broke away from the main group and never looked back. As the wind up come to the sprint finish, Sara Neil unleashed her power and made it two for two in the BC Cup followed closely by Leslie Tomlinson and Darnelle Moore.

A special note should be made about the weather. Sunny and warm. An oddity for a BC Cup event.

In what was a blessing in disguise, the organizer elected to forego the Stage Race format of the Bastion Square Festival this year, allowing many racers to rest their smoothly shaven legs and prepare for a tortuous 18 laps of Mount Tolmie. A welcome return of the peninsula leg of the road race saw the Senior Men and Women complete approximately 80km of rolling terrain along Victoria and Sydney's picturesque suburbs before hitting the short Mt.Tolmie loops.

A strong field of over 100 Senior Men rolled out in the cool breeze of the morning, with a special guest appearance in the peloton, GT's Roland Green. A subdued pack allowed a group of 8 riders to break off the front, content to stay together while the rain started to fall.

Hitting the small Mt. Tolmie loops, the rain started falling ever harder, and the familiar BC Cup weather reared its ugly head once again, demoralizing riders as they fought off the cold and wind (Remember? It's a BC Cup) .

Well into the race, Roland Green decided he was going to win. Ramping up the speed, he left the main pack and started making inroads into the break group's time lead. Lap by lap, Roland took minutes out of the lead. Suddenly, after a show of sheer power, he was THE lead group, chased only by Trek-Volkswagen's Svein Tuft.

The women's field was again, filled with quality riders from both segments of the sport, featuring the likes of Lesley Tomlinson, Sara Neil, Christine Platt and emerging star, Giant-Powerbar's Marni Hambleton. As the field rolled (splashed!) along the peninsula leg, Marni Hambleton and Gina Grain broke away and mounted an intense effort to free themselves of the chasing pack. Through much of the peninsula's rolling hills, these two riders would time trail and build an impressive gap, only to be reeled in by the unrelenting Sara Neil and an anxious pack of riders. As the two break-away riders were swallowed by the group, a number of inconsequential counter attacks took place on each of the 6 final laps of Mt. Tolmie's steep inclines, allowing for a very exciting sprint finish that saw Giant-Powerbar rider Marni Hambleton outsprinting several riders to finish second to Sara Neil, who has tightened her BC Cup lead by winning all three BC Cup events to date.

Men 1/2 Points Standings (Points issued 20 deep)

Name

Team

Event #1

Event #2

Event #3

Total Points

Svein Tuft

Trek-Volkswagen

10

*2

9

21

Luca Segato

Three Point Motors

10

3

13

Roland Green

GT Bicycles

11

11

Jason Crookham

Jett Fuel Coffee

6

5

11

Rod Hendersen

Peninsula Cycle

8

1

9

Scott Laliberte

Atomic Racing Club

8

8

Dan Macdonald

Basic Nutrition

7

1

8

Matt Barth

Peninsula Cycle

7

7

Cory Lange

Three Point Motors

1

6

7

Andreas Hestler

Ford-Devinici

6

6

Jesse Keefer

Nutrafig

5

5

Jamie Douglas

Rocky Mountain

5

5

Shane Savage

Giant-Powerbar

4

1

5

Robert Cameron

Crystaal-Spin Doctors

4

4

Dan Reilly

Giant-Powerbar

1

*2

1

4

Richard Minichello

1

*2

1

4

Peter Reid

Specialized

3

3

Trevor Wurtele

Three Point Motors

1

*2

3

Bryce McCallum

Trek-Volkswagen

1

*2

3

Mathew Decore

2

2

Matt Brown

Trek-Volkswagen

1

1

2

Jay Murray

Atomic Racing Club

1

1

2

Allan Prazsky

Giant-Powerbar

*2

2

Maurice Worsfold

Three Point Motors

1

1

2

Scott Simon

1

1

Tom Stewart

Soliton

1

1

Dave Vunic

OGC

1

1

Ryan Prachnau

Keywin

1

1

Mike Koski

Giant-Powerbar

1

1

Tony Zarsadias

Trek-Volkswagen

1

1

Jaimie Douglas

Rocky Mountain

1

1

Basse Clements

Peninsula Cycles

1

1

Hugh Trenchard

Fairfield Cycling Club

1

1

Menno Hubreyste

Trek

1

1

Event #2 - *2 points denotes group finish at Gary Lund Classic

Open Women Points Standings (Points issued 10 deep)

Name

Team

Event #1

Event #2

Event #3

Total Points

Sara Neil

Trek-Volkswagen

10

10

11

31

Marni Prazsky

Giant-Powerbar

7

5

9

21

Karen Timewell

Escape Velocity

6

1

4

11

Lisa Sweeney

Physical Culture

3

7

10

Gina Grain

Because

2

8

10

Darnelle Moore

Intersport

8

8

Kirsten Kotval

Giant-Powerbar

8

8

Melanie McQuaid

Rocky Mountain

7

7

Leslie Tomlinson

RLX Polosport

6

6

Christine Platt

Rocky Mountain

6

6

Shannon Baerg

Physical Culture

5

5

Amber Chorney

Ford-Devinci

2

3

5

Linda Pellicano

Atomic Racing Club

5

5

Linda Robichaud

Basic Nutrition

4

4

Barb Belcher

Soliton

4

4

Charlene Waldner

Because

3

3

Sandra Walter

ProWorks

1

1

2

Claire Townsend

Rocky Mountain

1

1

Shep Report

hey every one i've been lost in e-mailless heaven where only the weak with no laptops exist! Currently residing in Asheville enroute to Mt Snow Vermont tomorrow. The spanish trip (World Championships) proved to be quite deserving even if the result wasn't too stellar. Ended up starting the race in fine form by moving up a row or two in the first ten pedal strokes (thanks to a German guy who couldn't clip in). I myself wasn't clipped in either but wasn't concerned due to my new positioning, and then it happened! I hit a bump on the first corner, my foot slipped off driving my body (and precious lower extremities) onto my top tube while my foot, which was still searching the air for my pedal, made it's way towards my chainrings where my sock got caught! Wow that's a mouthful but that's what happened! Defenceless I was at the mercy of the riders behind me who greeted me with encouragment like, "Get the Fu** out of the way", or "Ahh tu es stupide", or "F***ing man". Classic words that may have slipped out of my mouth at the world championships if I were in their situation. Anyways that made a massive gap that I slowly closed throughout the race but I wasn't too concerned as most of my motivation came from the great ride by Roland Green who ended up 2nd! Go Canada I thought as I chased from a lowly 60th at one point to end up 27th. Two more spots was my goal but under the circumstances I was content....and hey my knee showed no signs of weakness! Most of you have probably seen the results by now so i'll leave it at that.

My next leg of the trip saw me spend an extra night in Toronto from those fine folks at Lufthansa! that sucked. Hit Asheville on Tuesday where I was greeted by Willow, the fine climate of the south and for the first time in over a month a lack of any sort of altitude! I trained hard from Wednesday to Sunday taking no break in hopes of some form this weekend in Vermont. Sunday saw the whole Koerber clan (myself included) head down to a North Carolina State series race 'aka' the Cane Creek Cup. The conditions were optimum for training my wet technical skills that haven't been used since hmmmmmmm Are Sweden last September! The three lap course was composed of knasty wet technical (roots, rocks) 1500 ft of climbing a lap and the odd rain shower that kept things slick through out the race. These were peeeerfecttttt for my choice in equipment -- carbon road shoes, a double chain ring, and a slick rear tire!!!!! I was on the bubble the whole time wary of what lay head of each turn! First lap was the slowest as I checked the course out second I hammered then the third I managed to stay upright and not hurt myself. First place to Willow, her dad, and me, while Willow's mom got 6th in the pro women and Grace (sister) 7th in sport women! This is a familly you wouldn't want to have a game of Mtn biker's family feud with! Wish me luck next weekend!!! Over and outshep dog